Can Pinterest Replace Instagram as the Dominant Social Platform?

ByHoma Zaryouni ·

17 March 2015

Pinterest became one of the most highly valued startups today by raising $367 million at a valuation of $11 billion. The new funds will give Pinterest ‘Unicorn’ status as one of the few startups to be valued in the eight digits. But can the platform replace Instagram as the top visual social platform?

L2’s Intelligence Report: Instagram finds that Pinterest’s user growth in the U.S. has been much slower than Instagram, and is expected to be relatively flat in the next few years. By 2019, 17.9% of the U.S. population is expected to use Pinterest vs. 33.6% predicted to use Instagram.

Pinterest users aren’t nearly as addicted to the platform as Instagram users are. Just 17% of Pinterest users visit the platform every day and the majority visit less than once a week. In contrast, 49% of Instagram users visit the site daily and 24% visit weekly.